I like the OB-4. Don’t really love it, tho. As with all TE’s things, it is both over designed to a point where form factor and practicality compete way to much and under designed to the point where you ask yourself « why » half of the time.
The one issue I have with it is ergonomics. To be precise, I’m just baffled at how badly designed it is physically. Weight distribution is a mess, height is design but unpractical, the charging port is placed at the worst place ever and it’s due to fall at some point. More so if you use the physical line in and end up with cables around it.
So, I wanted to share the most weird and yet most effective stand solution I’ve found to date. Helps preserving an available charging port without moving it, helps preventing falls, and could even look stylish.
The winner is…a ukulele stand.
Here’s hope this helps anyone looking for a way to stabilize the OB-4.
The stand in the photos attached has its legs rounded, so it could still be easily tilted over to the point where the OB-4 would still fall.
I have yet to try the two other stands I have around the house.
But there you go. OB-4 stand for the win.
I live in France, so might not work depending on your country.
One other thing to bear in mind : I repurposed this model because the quality was sheisse. Really.
The two pieces fit together but the black fabric protecting your OB-4/instrument from the stand is rubbish. It’s poorly glued and was already coming off when delivered.
So you might want to choose a better stand. This one is cheap, but there are other options in that price bracket.
And as for TE’s design…I dunno. It may be a very unpopular opinion, but I’m guessing TE is not so good at designing stuff. Lately, they brag about « learning » as they issue stuff. I guess it’s true.
Feels like they design stuff for still-pictured interiors. Which kinda kills any momentum you may have with their gear. It’s beautiful marketed, cheaply executed and horrendously engineered. Softwares are a thing of beauty, tho.
They just don’t have any great hardware engineers compared to similar brands.
The discussion is endless here. And the cash I splashed for the issues I got just made me wary, is all.
Now, as for the OB-4, the design is just weirdly unpractical. This screams « BT speaker you don’t ever touch ». Weird. That handle gimmick is weird. And that charging port? Urgh… what a fail !
Cheers for the warning about the rubber. That did get flagged up seeing your pics but I was more concerned about it sliding forward. Will have a gander through a few.
haha…are you on the Swiss border?
…
Getting the power cable in/out needs real force! Plus the cable is pretty short. I do love the handle though, and thankfully it hasn’t loosened through use. Just waiting from a proper official update (that sorts out my white noise issue).
Used to live in Vaux and still have the occasional gig in Switzerland. Well spotted, my friend!
I 100% agree with the whole power-chord/power input issues. Basic 101 form over function issue. That’s my main grip. It’s rather Teenage Internship than Teenage Engineering, at that point.
If I find a better made ukulele support for the OB-4, I’ll let you know.
Pretty sure it can help others down the line!
It’s inviting. And that’s what you want in a creative space.
And that rug.
Rugs are the center piece. They can make or kill a vibe. Yours is definitely holding the vibe together.
Not kidding, love your space.
I bought a house a year ago and I’m still trying to manage three spaces : a creative one upstairs, a small ready to use creative space downstairs and a mixing/mastering room that’s being created as we speak.
Will take pictures when it’s not a cable mess!
Blimey, three music rooms…ya git! Writing room; (paintings, landscapes, art prints) / live play room (chaotic, trippy, photos of heroes, album art) / mix room (absolute minimul distractions, Rothko/Pollock prints perhaps) ?
First creative space upstairs is my full ITB set-up for writing and recording purposes. Some guitars, MIDI controllers and a small corner dedicated to my wife (she’s a freelance photographer and likes to do the occasional ad-lib, commenting and/or recording while I write stuff).
The small creative space downstairs is really just my Casio AP270, a small tilted desk, and my hardware gear (samplers, some synths, some drum machines, etc) with an iPad as the main recording piece.
And the biggest space yet - being done atm - is for mixing and mastering.
There’s another space intended for teaching, but that’s really something else.
Still don’t know how I can still fit all that in such a small house. But my wife likes having instruments all over the place. And my baby daughter loves when dad is playing the guitars (special mention to acoustic bass, don’t know why).
I’ve got some busy weeks ahead, but I’ll make sure to send you pictures!
It’s an on-going debate, actually.
My wife thinks it’s the acoustic resonance.
A mixing engineer friend thinks it’s the way the baby perceives certain frequencies.
A MC friend of mine says that it’s probably the visuals : bigger instrument, easier to see.
I would advocate that when my wife was pregnant, I played a lot of guitars and babies-in-the-belly probably hear some kind of bassy rumble.
What I do know for sure is that my daughter lights up when she sees a guitar of sorts (ukulele, guitar, bass) but she smiles a lot when there’s some funky lines played nearby. And, oddly enough, she don’t like slap.
Now. For some context, my daughter is 6 months old. So it may be that her parents are just way too excited to see her react to basically anything.
And yeup. I’m glad my wife like the fact that there’s always some new music, new instruments and new creative spaces around the house.
Baby takes a lot of space, but we still manage to make the house a living thing.
My wife tests cameras, I make sounds. And then, we put the music on the images. It’s quite a thing !
when my nephew was real young he would light up when i played the lowest notes on the piano
i made a whole song out of the lowest octave for him one time bc he wouldn’t let me play any higher lol
So, that’s one point in the « low registry » category.
Works so far.
My baby daughter seems to love bass. Hard to really confirm since I’m trying not to ruin her ears with heavy duty bass songs.
But bass frequencies seems to do the trick.
Interesting.
